They Take The Cake In Boise, Idaho

Sweetness: Kathy Plaisance and about 50 other bakers use their skills to bring sweet treats to people who might otherwise be overlooked.

Emilie Ritter Saunders for NPR

Originally published on August 2, 2012 12:02 pm

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As Kathy Plaisance drapes blue fondant over a freshly baked chocolate cake, she explains that no child should have a cake-less birthday. Plaisance oversees Community Cakes, a group of 50 volunteer bakers who deliver homemade birthday cakes to people who might otherwise not have one — in veterans' homes, hospice centers and foster homes across southwest Idaho.

Plaisance tears up remembering the time she delivered a Superman cake to a boy in foster care.

"He was ecstatic. He had never had a cake like that before," she says. "Those are the ones that get you, and make you want to keep doing it."